Wall of success

I aim to use a molecular imaging technique, called positron-emission tomography, to improve treatments of head and neck cancer. My particular goal is to be able to identify those patients who would benefit from intensified proton therapy at an earlier point in their treatments. Eventually, I hope this will contribute to greater precision medicine. In the 2017 VENI round, I was invited to deliver a five-minute pitch on this proposal to a daunting committee of twenty-four medical professors.

Together with The Text Consultant, we looked for ways to give my story narrative impact and present both the project and the applicant as an attractive proposition. We established an individual style that would reflect me as a person: mildly unconventional in language, visuals and dress sense. This helped to make me feel good and self-confident before, during and after the delivery of a strong presentation. It certainly swayed the VENI committee.
 
Dennis Vriens
Nuclear Medicine Physician at Leiden University Medical Center